At the release of “Twilight: New Moon” approaches we’re being thrown breadcrumbs from Summit Entertainment to make sure we’re still fanatical about the movie. Well, we are and these chilling newly released photos of the evil Volturi confirm that that true to the book, the latest installment of the “Twilight” series is making an eerie turn.

Anything “Twilight” touches turns to gold and as November 20 quickly approaches you can expect the fameball of the cast members to rise as Twihards and fans alike embrace the latest film which has Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) in the early stages of their love triangle with Edward (Robert Pattinson).

In “New Moon,” the second installment in Stephenie Meyer’s wildly popular “Twilight” saga, readers are introduced to the ancient ruling class of vampires known as the Volturi. Director Chris Weitz did a brilliant job in capturing their corpselike appearance and mysterious presence by giving them custom-crafted blood-red eyes. “They’re all hand-painted, specially manufactured contacts,” Weitz told People magazine. “They’re opaque red, almost like preying mantis eyes. You can’t really see into them. There’s something terribly off-putting about it.”

British actor Michael Sheen plays Aro, leader of the Italian blood-sucking clan. Although Aro and his brothers Marcus (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Caius (Jamie Campbell Bower) have been “alive” for thousands of years, Weitz says he “deliberately” gave them a younger look in the film – for which he credits author Meyer. “Stephenie was very keen to steer away from a kind of wizard-y look for the vampires,” says Weitz. “They do look quite young, but they convey a formality and self-possession, which comes from age.”

The most lethal of all the Volturi is Jane (Dakota Fanning), an angelic-looking vampire who inflicts physical torture on her victims. “She is very strange and very spooky in this movie,” says Weitz. “I think [Dakota] wanted to play an evil character for once.”

Liam Neeson is speaking out about how the U.S. outpouring of grief in response to his wife’s death helped him decide to become an American citizen.

The Irishman lost his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in March after what first appeared to be a minor fall while skiing in Canada. Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, Neeson said he and the couple’s two sons were ‘doing good’ five months after the tragic accident. ‘To be honest, we are taking each day as it comes,’ he said.

Richardson died in March, aged 45, after banging her head in a skiing fall at the Quebec resort of Mont Tremblant. She had declined medical treatment at the scene and laughed off the incident, but later reported feeling unwell and an ambulance was called to her hotel. Her condition swiftly deteriorated and she was transferred from a local hospital to a larger unit in Montreal, where doctors established that she was brain dead. She was then flown to New York, where the family gathered to say a last goodbye. After a few days, Neeson and other relatives made the heartbreaking decision to take her off life support. The couple had two sons together, Michael and Daniel.

Neeson, who is originally from Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland and currently resides in New York, is still getting extraordinary letters of condolences from well wishers across the country which is one of the reasons he decided to become a U.S. citizen. ‘That is partly the reason why I’ve recently become an American citizen,’ Neeson said, adding: ‘I’m still a proud Irishman, of course, but I’ve become an American citizen – I’m very proud of that.’

One of the well wishers who offered support during his time of need was Ted Kennedy, who wrote Neeson following Richardson’s death. ‘I met him a couple of times, and he wrote my family a very beautiful, touching condolence letter when Natasha died. It is the end of an era. I have a very clear memory of being a 10-year-old boy and being taken to the ancestral Kennedy homestead in Ireland and posing for a photograph underneath the gable of their home with the American flag and the Irish flag up there on the gable.’

Since Natasha’s passing Liam has been keeping busy with work and will appear as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming biopic. He will also voice the character of Aslas in the next Narnia film.

Natasha Richardson was part of one of the great theatrical dynasties: the Redgraves. She appeared in more than 30 Hollywood films, but was best known for her work on the stage. She performed a number of Shakespearean roles, among them Ophelia in Hamlet and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 1998 she won a Tony award, for best actress in a musical, for her performance as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes’s Broadway production of Cabaret.

Are Derek Jeter and “Friday Night Lights” actress Minka Kelly preparing to walk down the aisle? “Derek and Minka are secretly engaged,” an insider told Page Six. The handsome Yankee captain and the actress have been telling friends to “save the date” for nuptials in the fall. “The wedding is being planned and will take place after baseball season is over,” said a source. A rep for Kelly said, “There is no fall wedding planned to Derek Jeter.”

Considering that Derek Jeter is one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, and Minka Kelly is just plain stunning, certainly has me excited. Prior to meeting my handsome husband I was certain that I would marry Derek Jeter some day. But as a fan of “Friday Night Lights” I approve of Minka and would love to see Derek settle down. I’ll be sure to send flowers… perhaps blue carnations.

The circus surrounding the death of Michael Jackson continues, the latest being a 24-year-old man who has come forward this week claiming to be a long lost love child of Michael Jackson. The alleged son’s name? Prince Michael Malachi Jet Jackson.

Claiming he isn’t motivated by money, Prince Michael Malachi Jet Jackson, who goes by Malachi, has thrown his name in the hat of possible love children of the King of Pop. “Malachi has been told his entire life that he is Michael Jackson’s son. His primary goal is to have closure on whether or not Michael was his father, and he wants a DNA test to prove it. Malachi’s motivation isn’t money,” LaRue Grim said. “Malachi looks exactly like Michael Jackson,” Grim added.

“I’m seeking a DNA test and I’m very concerned that it be reliable and that no one slips in DNA from a stranger. Malachi never met Michael … from what I understand Michael Jackson was very private about his personal life.”

A birth certificate was submitted with his claim lists “Michael Joseph Jackson” of Indiana as the father and Zerline LaVette Dixon as the mother.

Prince Michael is also the name of Michael’s two younger sons. Coincidence?

In what appears to be another step in her celebrity downward spiral, actress Lindsay Lohan will star in her own reality show about her life. The Lindsay Lohan star has fallen.

According to Fox News, Lohan is in talks with Britney Spears’ manager, Larry Rudolph, about a reality show that will focus on her attempt to make a Hollywood comeback. “Rudolph is helping Lohan with a potential reality show that will encapsulate her trials and tribulations as she gets back on her feet and actually becomes a working actress again.”

The past few years have not been kind to Lindsay. After a promising start to her acting career, her fameball has taken a hit as a result of constant partying, arrests, rehab, lack of movie roles, her crazy family life, a dwindling bank account and a tumultuous relationship with on-again / off-again girlfriend Samantha Ronson. After being labeled on the set of various movies and a prima-donna, can Lindsay get hers acting career back on track?

I refer to Britney Spears as the comeback queen and if Larry Rudolph can whip her career back into shape, I expect he can do the same for LiLo.

Chris Brown ordered to not to contact Rihanna for 5 years as court uncovers MORE incidents of domestic violence

A judge sentenced Chris Brown to five years’ probation and six months’ hard labor for the beating of former girlfriend Rihanna and was ordered to stay away from the R&B singer for the next five years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown that he could be sent to state prison if he violated any terms of his sentence unless they’re attending the same music industry events. Chris Brown was arrested on February 8, hours after he was accused of beating then-girlfriend Rihanna. The brutal attack occurred in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood after a Grammy Awards pre-party. Police reports reveal Rihanna made a desperate call to her assistant in the midst of Brown’s attack, which left the Umbrella star bloodied and bruised.

Rihanna told the police that trouble started when she slammed her fists onto the dashboard of Brown’s rental car after a row on the way home from a pre-Grammys bash. An enraged Brown immediately pulled the vehicle over and tried to push Rihanna out the door before throwing punches at her. He then drove off, continuing to hit her with his right hand as he drove with his left.

The violence stopped only after Rihanna checked her horrific injuries in the mirror prompting Brown to warn her: “I’m going to beat the sh** out of you when we get home. You wait and see.” At that point, a terrified Rihanna attempted to call her assistant, and although she couldn’t get through, she pretended to tell her aide to contact the police. Brown responded by telling the star: “You just did the stupidest thing ever. Now I’m really going to kill you.”

Several more punches followed, forcing Rihanna to shield her face with her arms as she tried to exit the car, prompting him to speed up – triggering the automatic door locks. He then grabbed her in a headlock, almost causing Rihanna to pass out, before biting her left ear. The horrifying assault finally ended when Rihanna attempted to shatter the window with her shoe. Brown struck her several more times before storming out of the car.

A probation report prepared for Tuesday’s sentencing described not one, but two previous violent incidents between Brown and Rihanna prior to the attack which occurred after the Grammys. The first happened three months prior to the February attack while the couple was traveling in Europe. Apparently, Rihanna slapped Brown during an argument and he shoved her into a wall. Classy guy, huh?

During the second instance, Brown broke the front and passenger side windows on a Range Rover the couple was driving while visiting Rihanna’s family in Barbados. Neither attack was ever reported.

Brown will serve his sentence in his home state of Virginia. The judge said she wanted to ensure that Brown, 20, performs physical hard labor instead of community service in addition to a year of domestic violence counseling. A previous attempt to sentence Brown was postponed when Schnegg said she hadn’t received adequate assurances that Brown would perform physical hard labor if allowed to serve probation in Virginia.

Schnegg also addresses recent reports that Chris Brown and Rihanna had been spotted on several occasions in the same place. ‘I am not amused with the chatter that has been on the airwaves and any violation of your probation in this case comes with the potential for state prison,’ Schnegg told Brown.

I always sleep with the news on so if a major event occurs during the night I’ll know about it right away. Around 2am I awoke to terrible news: Ted Kennedy had passed away. The last surviving brother from Camelot was gone.

Ted Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass. late last night at the age of 77. The US Senate was the youngest and last surviving brother of the political dynasty heralded as a modern-day Camelot. “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives,” the family said in a statement released early this morning. “He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”

President Barack Obama praised Sen. Edward Kennedy as the guardian of his family and defender of the American dream. Obama said that while people knew Kennedy’s time was short, “we’ve awaited it with no small amount of dread.” He noted an outpouring of affection for the venerable Massachusetts Democrat, calling him a “singular figure in American history” who touched many lives.

Born Edward Moore Kennedy in Boston on Feb. 22, 1932, Teddy was the youngest of Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s nine children. In addition to John and Robert’s assassinations, Kennedy’s eldest brother Joe Jr. was killed in World War II, leaving him the sole male heir to the Kennedy legacy. Kennedy narrowly escaped death in a 1964 plane crash that left him with a broken back and other injuries that plagued him for the rest of his life.

During his eight terms in the Senate representing Massachusetts, Kennedy rose to become one of the Democratic Party’s most powerful. The mystique of being a Kennedy just added to the package. “I’ve been fortunate in my life to grow up in an extraordinary family and to have a front-row seat at many key events in our nation’s history,” he said late last year.

With the assassination of his beloved older brothers, President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968, Ted was immediately thrust into the limelight of the powerful political family. He worked hard, but also liked to play hard and his penchant for partying followed him. Rumors of heavy drinking plagued the heir apparent, but his actions from a car accident in 1969 tarnished his image and put to rest any chance of following in his brothers footsteps to the White House.

Ted Kennedy was involved in a car crash at Chappaquiddick in 1969 after attending a party on Martha’s Vineyard which left Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, dead and Kennedy fleeing the scene. Kopechne, a former campaign worker for Robert Kennedy, drowned when Ted drove off a bridge and Kennedy escaped. Scandal arose when it was revealed that Kennedy didn’t call police until the following day. Although he always denied being drunk that night, the events at Chappaquiddick followed him. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and received a suspended sentence of two months in jail.

Kennedy separated from his first wife, Joan – who had long battled alcohol dependency – in 1982 and in 1992 married Victoria Reggie, a lawyer 22 years his junior. One of his proudest moments was in 1995 when his son Patrick became a congressman from Rhode Island.

Kennedy was hospitalized on May 17, 2008, following a seizure at the family’s compound in Hyannis Port. He was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and underwent chemotherapy. Kennedy, who was too ill to attend the funeral of his sister, Eunice Shriver, earlier this month, is survived by his wife and children, Edward Jr., Patrick and Kara Anne.

As I flipped through the September issue of Glamour magazine on a warm New England day I was intrigued by the article “What everyone but you see’s about your body.” As I lay on the beach in a bikini I was feeling self conscience, even though my husband kept telling me I looked great.

When I see the nude photo of Lizzi Miller on page 194 my jaw drops. There she is, posing totally nude and hiding her assets. But what struck me most was her stomach, which hung over her g-string and I am certain is more common with women than the airbrushed washboard abs we are used to seeing in magazines. Suddenly I felt relief as if someone had the confidence to bare it all without feeling self conscience. As I lay there on the beach I suddenly thought, I look fabulous!

The photo of Miller used for the article has caused major buzz in the modeling world. It’s a photo that measures all of three by three inches in Glamour magazine, but letters have flooded their inbox ever since the issue hit newsstands. And why? Because the picture wasn’t of a celebrity or a supermodel, but a woman sitting in her underwear with a smile on her face and real belly. Instead of looking uncomfortable, she is glowing and proud to be there. Editor-in-chief Cindi Leive has been inspired by the overwhelming support to reconsider the models shown in the magazine’s pages.

So what’s the story behind the photo? “The woman on p. 194” is actually 20-year-old model Lizzi Miller, and this is her second appearance in Glamour, shot by fashion photographer Walter Chin. A size 12-14 and avid softball player/belly dancer, Lizzi moved to New York City from San Jose, CA three years ago to become a model (a “plus-size” one by modeling industry standards even though at size 12 she’s actually “normal size”).

“When I was young I really struggled with my body and how it looked because I didn’t understand why my friends were so effortlessly skinny,” Lizzi told Glamour. “As I got older I realized that everyone’s body is different and not everyone is skinny naturally–me included! I learned to love my body for how it is, every curve of it. I used to be so self-conscious in a bikini because my stomach wasn’t perfectly defined. But everyone has different body shapes! And it’s not all about the physical! If you walk on the beach in your bikini with confidence and you feel sexy, people will see you that way too.”

Leive told Matt Lauer on Monday’s TODAY Show, “You get a reaction like this and you can really see it. It’s also a sign of the times that women are really looking for a little bit more authenticity and a little bit less artifice in every part of their lives. Will it change our approach? I think it will.”

And speaking with Lauer on the TODAY Show, Miller admits she wasn’t initially thrilled about a picture showing her belly roll. “I’m just like every other girl who has insecurities,” she said. “The first thing I thought was, ‘OK, not the most flattering picture.’ This was a real picture — they just caught me in a moment when I was feeling comfortable and I was just being natural, and it was just the way it came out.”

Of Miller’s belly, Leive said, “You see it all the time when you look into the mirror, and I think that’s what women reacted to here. They’re actually seeing something that looks the way so many of us really do, but you don’t see represented that often.”

Cheers to Lizzi for having the bravery to show off her spectacular sexiness and owning who you are. You go girl!

MICHAEL Jackson’s drug death is officially being treated as homicide after it was revealed that the King of Pop’s death was caused by lethal levels of propofol administered by his doctor Conrad Murray. The Los Angeles Coroner’s ruling means the Jackson’s personal doctor is now the prime suspect.

Forensic tests found that a lethal dose of propofol combined with at least two sedatives caused Michael Jackson’s death, a law enforcement source told the Associated Press. The coroner has not yet released his official autopsy findings, citing a request from detectives to withhold results until their investigation is complete. But the affidavit quotes the coroner report’s “preliminary” results as saying, “Jackson’s cause of death was due to lethal levels of PROPOFOL.” The police probe is focusing on whether Murray was criminally negligent in administering drugs to Jackson in the hours before his dramatic collapse.

Dr Conrad Murray has admitted giving Jackson more than FOUR kinds of painkillers on the night he died. After Jackson first complained he could not sleep at 1.30am, the doctor gave him valium, according to search warrant details. Just half an hour later the singer was still complaining of insomnia, so Murray injected him with another sedative called lorazepam. When that failed, he administered ANOTHER sedative – called midazolam – at about 3am on June 25. Over the next few hours Murray – who had treated Jackson’s insomnia for six weeks – gave various other medications to help him drop off. But at 10:40am, he gave in to Jackson’s pestering and issued the knockout dose of propofol, which the singer referred to as his “milk.” Murray remained with the sedated Jackson for about 10 minutes before going to the bathroom. He claimed that no more than two minutes later, he returned and found Jackson had stopped breathing after suffering a fatal cardiac arrest.

Murray says he began CPR at 11 a.m. and at some point ran downstairs and asked Jackson’s chef to send up Prince Michael Jackson, the star’s 12-year-old son, to continue CPR. But records show Murray made three phone calls totaling approximately 47 minutes beginning at 11:18 am, something he did not reveal to investigators, according to the affidavit. The document suggests Murray was either not paying full attention to Jackson’s monitoring, or was frantically making calls following the discovery that the singer had stopped breathing. The 911 call finally came in at 12:21 p.m. Murray accompanied Jackson to the hospital but refused to sign his death certificate, the affidavit states.

On Monday, Murray’s attorney, Ed Chernoff, said in a statement: “Much of what was in the search warrant affidavit is factual. However, unfortunately, much is police theory. Most egregiously, the timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with Dr. Murray, as was implied by the affidavit. Dr. Murray simply never told investigators that he found Michael Jackson at 11am not breathing.”

Murray has denied telling police he left Jackson alone after administering a powerful anesthetic and returned to find his patient had stopped breathing at 11am on June 25. ‘Dr Murray simply never told investigators that he found Michael Jackson at 11am not breathing,’ Chernoff said. He declined to comment on the homicide ruling, saying, ‘We will be happy to address the coroner’s report when it is officially released.’

Jackson’s family released a statement last night, saying it has ‘full confidence’ in the legal process and the efforts of investigators. It concluded: ‘The family looks forward to the day that justice can be served.’

Melanie Griffith has checked into a rehab facility her rep has confirmed. “She is there to reinforce her commitment to stay healthy,” says her rep Robin Baum. “This is part of a routine plan that was designed between her and her doctor’s years ago.”

Griffith, 52, who is married to sexy actor Antonio Banderas is staying at the Cirque Lodge in Utah which has famously helped Lindsay Lohan, Eva Mendes and Kirsten Dunst in recent years.
In 2000, Griffith revealed that she was seeking treatment for an addiction to painkillers, which she started using after a neck injury. “My doctor has referred me to the Daniel Freeman Hospital to step down from the prescribed medication that I have been taking for a neck injury,” she said. She also spent time at a facility 1988 to battle alcoholism and cocaine addiction.

Melanie is best known for her role as Tess in the 80’s classic “Working Girl,” for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

The daughter of actress Tippi Hendren, Griffith had an unconventional childhood and fell for first husband Don Johnson when she was only 14. The couple wed when Melanie was only 18-years-old, but the marriage lasted only a few months. During her second marriage to actor Steven Bauer, Melanie found herself turning to drugs and alcohol. After divorcing Steven and her first rehab stint in 1988, Melanie reconciled with Don and they married again the following year.

Her second marriage to Don Johnson collapsed again and she soon fell into the arms of sexy Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, who she wed in 1996. Melanie has three children from her three spouses – Alexander Bauer, 24, Dakota Johnson, 19, and Stella Banderas, 12.